Development Environment Setup | Bondar Academy
Course: JavaScript for Testers
Module: Introduction
Instructor: Artem Bondar
Lesson Summary
In this lesson, we will configure a development environment to run JavaScript code on your computer using two main components: Node.js and Visual Studio Code . Installing Node.js To install Node.js, follow these steps: Open your web browser and search for Node.js . Click on the first result, which is nodejs.org . Download the installation package suitable for your operating system: For Mac , the installer will be automatically detected. Download and run the package, then follow the installation prompts. For Windows , select either X64 or IRM64 based on your system architecture, download the MSI installer, and follow the prompts. Ensure you install the LTS version of Node.js for stability (currently version 24). Installing Visual Studio Code Next, install Visual Studio Code: Search for vscode in your browser. Download the installer for your operating system and complete the installation. Configuring Visual Studio Code After installation, open Visual Studio Code and perform the following: Enable Auto Save by going to File settings. Open a new terminal session via Terminal > New Terminal . Check Node.js and NPM installation by typing: node -v npm -v For Mac users, keep the default z-shell . Windows users should switch to Command Prompt for better compatibility. Your computer is now ready to execute JavaScript code, and you can proceed to the next lesson!
Video Transcript
All right, in this lesson we will configure development environment so you'll be able to run JavaScript code on your computer. And for that we will need two components, Node.js and Visual Studio Code. So let's jump into it. Open Google browser and first of all, let's install Node.js. So go to the Google and type Node.js and hit enter. And the very first URL in the search will be the nodejs.org, open this guy. And first of all, what is Node.js? So Node.js is a special runtime environment that allows you to run JavaScript code outside of the web browser. When JavaScript was created, it was created to be able to execute only inside of the browser. But with the creation of the Node.js, it empowered developers to run JavaScript and TypeScript outside of the browser and create just a new kind of application using this language. And since we're on JavaScript outside of the browser, we need Node.js for that. So for installation of the Node.js, click on this get Node.js. And first of all, you will see this command line interface for the installation, which is, I don't know, kind of confusing. And instead, we're gonna go a simpler installer approach. So scroll a little bit down and here we go. You can download here the installation package based on your operating system. So I am on the Mac, so the system automatically detected that I am a Mac user. And I am IRM64 architecture. So for Mac users, just download this package like this. It's downloading on your computer, then you're just opening it. The installer look like this and you just install everything by default. Click continue, install. It may ask your password. And then it completes the installation. And after that, you just close this installer and can remove it to trash. If you are a Windows user, so you just select the Windows over here. And in this dropdown, you need to select either X64 or IRM64. So most likely, you will have X64. If you have Intel chip on your computer, you will select X64. And IRM64 is for the newer generation of Windows computers that use a different chip, which is IRM architecture. And you use the same. So you download just MSI installer, download it on your computer, run it, just accept everything by default, and Node.js will be installed on your computer. So simple. Also, make sure for the versioning, by default, it's selected LTS version of the Node.js. As of today, it's version 24. There is a newer version available, which is 25, which called Current. Do not install current version of the Node.js. You may think that this is a newer version and it is better, but actually not. Because the current version is a more of experimental version and may have compatibility issues down the road. And LTS version is the most stable version and recommended for most of the users. So when you install Node.js, always install LTS version on your computer and leave the current version for developers. So this step is done. The next step, we need to install the Visual Studio Code, which will be our editor. So in the Google, just type vscode and hit Enter. The first line, Visual Studio Code. That's it. You need to download this installer, either for Mac or for Windows, and complete the regular installation of Visual Studio Code. After you've done all of this, open Visual Studio Code on your computer. When you open it for the first time, it will look like this with the empty screen, or you will have the welcome window. It doesn't matter. A couple of things you need to check before moving forward. So go to File and enable Auto Save. This is important because it's disabled by default. It will enable automatic saving of all files that you do and all changes that you modify inside of Visual Studio Code. Next, open the Terminal, Terminal and New Terminal to start a new terminal session. And we need to check if the installation of Node.js and NPM was completed successfully. So type node-v and hit Enter. And in my example, Node 24 was installed successfully. And then npm-v and hit Enter. And NPM version 11 was installed successfully. So computer is all set. And also from the terminal perspective, if you are on the Mac, keep everything as default. So default z-shell is selected. If you're on Windows computer, most likely you will have PowerShell as your default shell. So click on the Select Default Profile. And here you will be able to switch from the PowerShell to the Command Prompt. I would recommend using Command Prompt on the Windows because it has less compatibility issues with different special characters and stuff like that. So just select over here is your shell, which is Command Prompt, and you will be good to go. All right, that's it. So your computer is ready to execute JavaScript code, and we're ready to move forward to the next lesson.